A few weeks back, a woman who attended a webinar of mine took note that I was talking about how there are no Shelties to adopt for hundreds of miles from where we live. She very thoughtfully hopped on a website called PetFinder and then wrote to me to tell me that there was a little girl sheltie about 80 miles away. I immediately acted on that lead. What was particularly amazing to me was that the sheltie’s name was Diamond. 

In our family, that was a crazy, huge sign from the angels. I won’t bother you with why that’s such a powerful sign, but for a moment I definitely thought “Oh, this is our new baby.” 

Unfortunately, Diamond was a very popular girl. Even though I acted immediately, her dance card was already so full, that the rescue wouldn’t even let me make an appointment to meet her. And the next morning, she was gone. 

The lack of Shelties to adopt on the west coast (they all seem to be on the east coast and thousands of miles away from us) had started to push me towards getting a puppy. I even reached out to a couple of people about it. But the breeders I inquired with were not very responsive and didn’t seem to care if I took one of their puppies. 

In the meantime, a friend of ours came to visit us. He has great taste in music and an amazing Spotify playlist. Just as I was telling him about Diamond, the song “Diamonds” by Sam Smith started to play. I mean literally… I started to tell him the story and the song started to play. At the same moment. Both of us were just floored. 

Over the next couple of days, I continued to have lackluster emails from the breeders. 

Yesterday, my friend and I were driving around town. I was relaying to him that I thought I was going to pause on the puppy thing and just like that, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith started to play again. In that same moment, a big truck pulled into the lane behind us. The truck listed “Diamond Trucking” on its doors. We came to a stop at a red light and the car next to us had vanity license plates that said “ThreeGems” and the car next to that one had vanity plates that said “SeniorDog”. 

I just want to be super-duper clear. All of those signs happened simultaneously! In the same moment. How could anyone ignore that or explain it away?

There are times when the angels whomp me over the head with a message. Where the guidance is so completely clear that there is simply no room for discussion. It doesn’t happen often. I wish it happened all the time. Think how much easier life would be!  But when it does happen, I fold like a house of cards. I do not argue, I do not negotiate. I just do as I’m told. In this case I feel the message was crystal clear (pardon the pun.) While the sheltie named Diamond has already been adopted, it seems to me that our next dog will be a rescue and will most likely come from PetFinder. We just need to be patient and wait.   

As soon as we got back to the house, I got on my computer and emailed the breeders that we were going to pass on the puppies. I also set up auto alerts on PetFinder for Shelties. 

I currently have many dogs over the rainbow bridge, but the two most important right now are Raven and Jace. Raven passed over and instantly Riley was presented to us. We feel Raven chose her for us. Jace was baby brother to Raven and older brother to Riley. He was Riley’s guiding light. I have asked for their help in finding Riley’s sibling. 

I feel the events of the last few days were Raven and Jace saying “We’ve got this. Please stand back and let us handle it.” 

So that’s what I’m going to do. That doesn’t mean do nothing. I will continue to actively check PetFinder and other methods of rescue. I need to put us in a place where we can be found by the right pooch guided to us. 

And we will wait. Although maybe not that long. Over the last few days, I have slipped and said “our dogs” twice. Of course, we only have Riley right now. Maybe someone is coming sooner than we think. 

But circling back to all those signs. My friend in the car was pretty impressed by what was happening around us. It made me wake up to how blessed I am to have things like that happen to me. And so I say thank you to my angels, my guides, and of course, to Raven and Jace. 

Angel Blessings,

~Radleigh